John Muir Gaining Popularity
John Muir had to work hard for his popularity; it did not just come naturally. To get the President of the United States to recognize him, he had to become noticed all over the country. In 1889, John Muir brought Robert Underwood Johnson, an editor at Century Magazine, through Yosemite to show him the damage that had been done to the land. Robert Underwood Johnson soon started to edit John Muir's articles, and had them published. This proved important in making Muir well-known around the country.
"When, on December 5, 1871, readers of the New York Tribune, the leading newspaper of its day, turned to an article entitled 'Yosemite Glaciers,' they found themselves reading descriptions of nature like none they had seen before. It was the first attempt of the author, John Muir, to write for publication, and it was also the beginning of a long, affectionate relationship between Muir and his readers. Decades after the appearance of some of his articles, readers would write him to thank him belatedly for the enjoyment he had given them." -Mark R. Stoll (1993) |
"At the foot of these two domes are two lakes exactly alike in size and history, beautiful as any I ever beheld; first there is the crystal water center, then a yellowish fringe of Carex, which has lone arching leaves which dip to the water; then a beveled mossy border of yellow of Sphagnum moss, exactly marking the limits of the lake; further back is a narrow zone of dryer meadow, smooth and purple with grasses which grow in soft plushy sods, interrupted here and there by clumpy gatherings of blueberry bushes." -John Muir (1871) in Yosemite Glaciers.
"It was late in May, 1889, that I first meet him. I had gone to San Francisco to organize the series of papers afterward published in the Century Magazine under the title of 'the Goldhunters of California,' and promptly upon my arrival he came to see me. It was at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. I was dressing for dinner and was obliged to ask him to come up to my room. He was a long time in doing so and I feared he had lost his way. I can remember, as if it were yesterday, hearing him call down the corridor, 'Johnson, Johnson! where are you? I can't get the hang of these artificial cañons', and before he had made any of the conventional greetings or inquires, he added, 'Up in the Sierra, all along the gorges, the glaciers have put up natural sign-posts, and you can't miss your way, but here - there's nothing to tell you where to go.'"
-Robert Underwood Johnson (Written on January, 1916, as a tribute to John Muir)
-Robert Underwood Johnson (Written on January, 1916, as a tribute to John Muir)